About CASE: In August 2021, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) partnered with Children’s Hospital Colorado to start the Colorado Antimicrobial Stewardship Endeavor (CASE). CASE includes physicians, pharmacists, and epidemiologists who provide mentorship and resources to Colorado hospitals that may be new to antibiotic stewardship. Antibiotic stewardship is the effort to measure and improve how antibiotics are prescribed by clinicians and used by patients. Improving antibiotic prescribing and use is critical to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harms caused by unnecessary antibiotic use, and combat antibiotic resistance. Learn more on the antimicrobial stewardship main page.
Through a series of workshops and one-on-one consultations, CASE will support hospital antibiotic stewardship programs to:
- Create evidence-based actions to improve antibiotic stewardship.
- Develop procedures to track and monitor antibiotic use and reporting.
- Extend antibiotic stewardship activities to pediatric patients.
- Develop programs that meet state and national standards and CDC’s Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship.
- Interact with antimicrobial steward peers statewide.
- Request one-on-one consultations from the CASE team.
CASE also seeks to provide resources such as treatment guidelines, support for reporting antibiotic use to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), and links to evidence-based guidelines and tools.
CASE workshop schedule 2024-2025
Date | Presentation Slides |
Workshop 1: Oct. 4, 2024, noon to 1pm | Presentation | Recording |
Antimicrobial stewardship is one of the best tools we have to fight back against antimicrobial resistance. While there are multiple guidelines for common infectious processes, applying them at the local level can be a time-consuming challenge. Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health have partnered with Firstline to create a mobile app to change that.
Firstline houses clinical pathways from Children’s and Denver health, along with antimicrobial dosing information, pathogen information, infection prevention information, and more. It is intended for use in all clinical settings. The app is free to download, and is available on iOS and Android devices, as well as a web-based format. CDPHE supports the Firstline app in an effort to provide antimicrobial stewardship treatment guidelines and resources across healthcare settings.
No matter your specialty or practice, we are all stewards. We can all work together in keeping Colorado healthy, one antibiotic choice at a time.
Use the QR code above to find our app. Once downloaded, you can set your location to Denver Health and/or Children’s Hospital Colorado to access all of our materials. Once in the app, clicking on the FirstLine logo in the top left corner will allow you to toggle between locations to access adult vs pediatric guidance. Contact cdphe_hai_ar@state.co.us for more information or feedback!
CASE is recruiting hospitals to participate in a nine-month quality improvement project to implement Firstline and measure and improve pathway adherence. In collaboration with Children's Hospital Colorado and Denver Health, CASE created a no-cost app through Firstline that contains antimicrobial stewardship-focused infectious diseases guidelines that can be used in all clinical settings.
Enrollment in the CARE PATH program will consist of:
- Using pathway adherence tools created by CASE to measure prescriber adherence to recommended antibiotic choice and duration for urinary tract infection, community acquired pneumonia, and/or skin and soft tissue infection.
- Entering adherence data into a secure REDCap database hosted by CDPHE
- Receiving an individualized feedback report with a summary of adherence data for use by your antibiotic stewardship team. Share your report with your prescribers and hospital leaders or keep it as documentation of your efforts for accreditation.
When: July 2024 through March 2025
Next steps:
- Include CARE PATH in your quality improvement plan.
- Download the Firstline app through Apple or Android Store (see QR code above), and search for Children’s Hospital Colorado or Denver Health.
- Contact Joana Dimo, DO (joana.dimo@state.co.us) or cdphe_hai_ar@state.co.us for more information.
CARE PATH recruitment poster PDF
We have expanded CASE in partnership with the Office of Rural Health to offer an antimicrobial stewardship series focused on critical access and community hospitals!
We encourage ongoing participation in CASE for workshops, office hours, and consultations. The goal of the CASE collective is to promote outreach and facilitate discussion among antimicrobial stewards at smaller or resource-limited settings across the state.
We invite you to join four virtual interactive calls with peer facilities and the interdisciplinary CASE team from August to May. Participation is voluntary and at no-cost. Consultations and additional support are available through participation in CASE. Register for the CASE collective using the button below!
Dr. Elizabeth Dodds-Ashley - PharmD, MHS, Professor of Medicine at Duke University, Director of DASON at Duke University | Dr. Elizabeth Dodds-Ashley, is a Professor of Medicine and Director of Operations for the Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network (DASON) based at Duke University. During her 15 year career as an active antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist her work spans a variety of patient care settings including large academic medical centers, community hospitals and long term care facilities. She has served as a member of the Antimicrobial Resistance Working Group at the CDC, and an expert panel member of the Transatlantic Taskforce for Antimicrobial Resistance. She also served as the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) representative on the Presidential Advisory Council on Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB). She is actively involved in several professional societies engaged in stewardship including SHEA and SIDP. |
Dr. Chris Evans - PharmD, Tennessee Department of Health HAI/AR pharmacist lead | Dr. Christopher Evans is a pharmacist with the Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program at the Tennessee Department of Health (DOH). He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Campbell University School of Pharmacy and completed a pharmacy practice residency at Vidant Health. He also completed an infectious diseases pharmacy residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where he later served as the Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist. His work at the Tennessee DOH focuses on improving antibiotic use in all areas of the healthcare continuum and investigation of cases of injectable drug diversion. His research interests include the clinical impact and metrics of antimicrobial stewardship programs and antibiotic use and resistance tracking. He maintains active memberships in SHEA and the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists. |
Spring 2023 | Presentation slides |
Jan. 13, 2023 | Guideline development and adaptation - Presentation | Recording |
March 24, 2023 | ASP Data Management and NHSN AU Module Basics - Presentation | Recording |
May 19, 2023 | Intersection of Diagnostic and Antimicrobial Stewardship - Presentation | Recording |
Fall 2022 | Presentation slides |
Nov. 18, 2022 | Stewardship in the community and critical access settings | Presentation video |
Spring 2022 | Presentation slides |
Jan. 21, 2022 | Stewardship Part 1: Why, who, how to keep track, and who to ask |
Feb. 25, 2022 | Stewardship Part 2: Pharmacy Power |
Apr. 22, 2022 | Stewardship Part 3: It starts with a handshake |
June 24, 2022 | Stewardship Part 4: The Larger Team |
CASE one-on-one consultations
People from our two teams work together to troubleshoot difficulties and help develop plans for improving your stewardship program over a 30-60 minute session. These sessions are tailored to your specific needs and situations.
To schedule a session, email Michael J Bozzella DO MS (CASE Lead) at michael.bozzella@childrenscolorado.org or CDPHE at cdphe_hai_ar@state.co.us.